Әйелдер баскетбол спортының тарихы

the sport played in the Commonwealth previously known as "women's basketball"
Basketball played by women

Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It was first played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large parts via women's college competitions, and has since spread globally. As of 2020, basketball is one of the most popular and fastest growing sports in the world. There are multiple professional leagues and tournaments for professional women basketball players. The main North American league is the WNBA. In the US, the NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championship is also popular. The strongest European women's basketball clubs participate in the EuroLeague Women. While for men, basketball was designed as an indoor addition to existing team sports such as baseball and football, basketball became the first women's team sport, followed shortly after by hockey, rowing, and volleyball. Basketball's early adherents were affiliated with YMCAs and colleges throughout the United States, and the game quickly spread throughout the country. However, Berenson was taking risks simply in teaching the game to women. Nineteenth century Victorian culture stressed the frailty of women and prioritized the status of women in the home, and Berenson expressed concern about the women suffering from "nervous fatigue" if games were too strenuous for them. In order to keep it acceptable for women to play at all within Victorian ideals of refinement and gentility, she taught modified rules. She increased participation to nine players per team, and the court was divided into three areas. Three players were assigned to each area (guard, center, and forward) and could not cross the line into another area. The ball was moved from section to section by passing or dribbling, and players were limited to three dribbles and could only hold the ball for three seconds. No snatching or batting the ball away from another player was allowed. A center jump was required after each score. Variations of Berenson's rules spread across the country via YMCAs and women's colleges, where educated middle class women were following the prevailing trend in men's games of playing intercollegiate sports. While upper class women had been playing sports at country clubs since the mid nineteenth century, they were able to participate in activities such as tennis and croquet in full length skirts and corsets. However, similar attire was impractical for a more active sport like basketball, so the first trousers for women were worn. Initially loose and covered by a knee length skirt, these early pants were replaced soon after by loose bloomers over stockings. Despite men being forbidden from watching these collegiate games, the attire still drew public ridicule. The women's branch of the National Amateur Athletic Foundation was founded in the 1920s, and the organization's goals included keeping women's sports non competitive by discouraging travel and awards, discouraging publicity, and keeping women coaches and administrators in charge of women's sports. At the moment the WNBA consists of 12 Teams across the United States.

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly with five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball through the defender's hoop. The rules for women's basketball are almost identical to the rules for men's basketball. The most noticeable difference is in the circumference of the women's basketball, which is less than the men's basketball. The smaller ball was introduced for NCAA play in the fall of 1984.

The regulation WNBA ball is a minimum in circumference, which is smaller than the NBA ball. This is a standard size 6 ball. As of 2008, this size is used for all senior level women's competitions worldwide.

The standard court size in U. S. college and WNBA play is , while the FIBA standard court is slightly smaller at For most of its distance, the three point line is from the middle of the basket under both FIBA and WNBA rules. Near the sidelines, the three point line runs parallel to the. sideline, at a distance of exactly a yard in the WNBA and 0.9 m in FIBA play. Under NCAA rules, the three point distance is 22 feet (7 m) for most of the width of the court, with a minimum distance of from the sidelines. The WNBA, FIBA, and NCAA all use a block/charge arc near each basket, with the WNBA and NCAA distance at 4 feet (1 m) from the center of the basket and FIBA using a marginally wider radius of exactly .

The WNBA shot clock was changed from 30 to 24 seconds, which has been in FIBA play since 2000, and has been used by the NBA since the shot clock was first introduced in 1954. Both men's and women's NCAA college basketball use a 30 second shot clock; the men's clock was introduced in 1985 at 45 seconds, lowered to 35 seconds in 1993, and 30 seconds in 2015.

Most high school games are played with four 8 minute quarters, while NCAA, WNBA, and FIBA games are played in four 10 minute quarters. In 2015–2016 the NCAA changed the rules to 10 minute quarters from 20 minute halves. High lobs or tip ins can be attempted with up to 0.3 seconds left in the period per the Trent Tucker Rule. A WNBA rule removed the jump ball at the start of the second half.

Women's basketball is governed internationally by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Since 1953 FIBA has hosted a world championship tournament for women, currently known as the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup. The event, renamed from "FIBA World Championship for Women" after its 2014 edition, is currently held in even numbered non Summer Olympic years.

In addition to the Olympics and Women's World Cup, women's basketball is also contested in the Pan American Games and the Central American and Caribbean Games. Women's basketball made its first appearance at the Commonwealth Games in 2006. Basketball (for both men and women) is one of the sports that the host nation of the Island Games may select for competition. Wheelchair basketball, one of the original eight events of the Paralympic Games, also has a women's wheelchair basketball championship program.

AfroBasket Women is the women's basketball continental championship of Africa, played biennially under the auspices of FIBA, the basketball sport governing body, and the African zone thereof. The tournament also serves to qualify teams for participation in the quadrennial FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup and the Olympic basketball tournament.

The Russian Women's Basketball Premier League is the dominant league in Europe (largely because it is the main attraction of the WNBA players during the off season). Other notable leagues are the Italian Serie A1, the Spanish Liga Femenina and the Turkish Super League.

In England, the Women's English Basketball League is a semi professional and amateur competition. The league has grown steadily over recent years, and has now reached a level of thirty national league sides. The league is split into two levels. Division 1 is as close to professional as women's sport gets in the United Kingdom, with teams such as Rhondda Rebels and Sheffield Hatters bringing in players from the US and Europe. The Nottingham Wildcats make up the trio of clubs that helped establish the women's league and remain amongst the top three or four places. The gap between these top teams and the rest of the league has remained, but gradually as the women's game has developed, the gulf in results has been reduced, and each year there have been more competitive games. Promotion from Division 2 has always reinforced the gap between the two leagues, as the winner of the Division 2 promotion play offs has found the step up difficult. The Division 2 play offs take the top four teams from the North and South of the Second Divisions, with the top playing the bottom of the other pool. This year (2006/7) saw several new teams join the second division, showing the continual growth of the women's game. These included the SevenOaks Suns, Enfield Phoenix, Taunton Tigers and Bristol Storm.

Professional women's basketball exists in Australia in the form of the Women's National Basketball League. The league was founded in 1981 as a way for the best women's basketball teams in the various Australian States to compete against each other on a regular basis. Today the WNBL is the premier women's basketball league in Australia.

One of the major important events in the development of women's basketball in the United States was Title IX. Title IX was passed in 1972 to end sexual discrimination and stereotyping in admission to colleges and also in academic subjects (McDonagh, Pappano, 2008). Therefore, Congress' original goal was eliminating this discrimination in academic and educational processes. “Title IX is today generally viewed as having fixed the problem of gender inequality of sports, at least in educational settings” (McDonagh, Pappano, 2008, 79). It started out as simply involving education but then shifted in a debate to sports. Some groups such as the NCAA fought to keep things the way they were in reference to men's sports. The NCAA had built up the programs and earned financial support and popularity and did not want to throw that down the drain (McDonagh, Pappano, 2008). In 1974, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare issued Title IX regulations regarding intercollegiate athletics (McDonagh, Pappano, 2008). Title IX implies that if a school has a specific sport's team for boys then they must have a team in that same sport for girls. This will occur unless the men's sport happens to be a contact sport in which the rule will not necessarily apply (McDonagh, Pappano, 2008). In 1978, colleges and universities were forced to apply Title IX's rules and regulations. Athletic departments had to adhere to one of three requirements which were the proportionality rule, the gender equity rule, or historical progress rule (McDonagh, Pappano, 2008). Each of these requirements addressed Title IX and its regulations in a fair manner. To ensure that schools comply with Title IX, they face the consequence of losing federal funding for any violation (Sadker, 2001). The proportionality rule entails that a school provides opportunities proportional to its enrollment. As an example, if a school is 55% male and 45% female then the athletic participation should be 55:45 (McDonagh, Pappano, 2008). Not only does the proportionality rule apply to athletic participation, but it also addresses scholarships. “So if a college is spending $400,000 per year on athletic scholarships and half of the athletic participants are women then half of that amount, $200,000, should be funding athletic scholarships for women (McDonagh, Pappano, 2008, 299). The gender equity rule entails that a school must prove that it “meets the interest of the gender that is underrepresented” (McDonagh, Pappano, 2008, 107) which happens to be women. The historical progress rule entails that if a school is unable to provide proportional opportunities then they must put forth an effort to create more opportunities for the underrepresented gender (McDonagh, Pappano, 2008). Between 1971 and 2000, Title IX has proven to have had a huge impact on female collegiate sports. Sports participation among college women has risen from 372 percent over that time, from 32,000 to more than 150,000 women (McDonagh, Pappano, 2008, 108). Also now 33.5% of female students participate in sports (McDonagh, Pappano, 2008). The issue still remaining is that women's sports beyond college do not benefit from Title IX. As a whole, they make less income than men in professional sports which Title IX cannot do much about. However, due to Title IX some women have gotten recognition as a result of the debate. "Women athletes receive greater respect today but relatively skimpy media attention. Thank Title IX for the growing visibility of women's college basketball that has USA Today producing a pullout section for the women’s NCAA March Madness tournament" (McDonagh, Pappano, 2008, 109). The second women's professional league to be created in the United States was the WBA. The league played three seasons from the summer of 1993 to the summer of 1995. The league is considered to be the first American professional women's basketball league to be successful as a summer league, like the WNBA. The league played three full seasons with plans to play as a 12 team league in 1997 but disbanded before 1997 season. The WBA played a 15 game schedule and games were broadcast on Liberty Sports of Dallas. When FOX Sports purchased Liberty Sports and the WBA, they disbanded the league. In 1996, two professional women's leagues were started in the United States. They were the American Basketball League and the WNBA. The American Basketball League was founded in 1996 during an increase in the interest in the sport following the 1996 Summer Olympics. The league played two full seasons (1996–97 and 1997–98) and started a third (1998–99) before it folded on 22 December 1998.

The Women's National Basketball Association or WNBA is an organization governing a professional basketball league for women in the United States. The WNBA was formed in 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association, and league play began in 1997. The regular WNBA season is June to September (North American Spring and Summer). Most WNBA teams play at the same venue as their NBA counterparts. Most team names are also very similar to those of NBA teams in the same market, such as the Washington Wizards and Washington Mystics, the Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx. Officially approved by the NBA Board of Governors on 24 April 1996, the creation of the WNBA was first announced at a press conference with Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes in attendance. While not the first major women's professional basketball league in the United States (a distinction held by the defunct WBL), the WNBA is the only league to receive full backing of the NBA. On the heels of a much publicized gold medal run by the USA women's national team at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, the WNBA began its first season on 21 June 1997 to much fanfare. The league began with eight teams. The first WNBA game featured the New York Liberty facing the Los Angeles Sparks in Los Angeles and was televised in the United States on the NBC television network. At the start of the 1997 season, the WNBA had television deals in place with NBC, ESPN and Lifetime Television Network. The league is divided into two conferences, the Eastern Conference and the Western Conference. Each of the 12 teams plays a 34 game regular season schedule, beginning in June and ending in mid September. Although the WNBA is divided into conferences for scheduling purposes, it has used a single table for purposes of playoff qualifying since the 2016 season. The eight teams with the best overall records, regardless of conference affiliation, compete in the WNBA Playoffs during September with the WNBA Finals in early October. An All Star Game is typically held in the middle of July, while regular play stops temporarily for it. In Olympic years, there is no all star game, but a break of about five weeks in the middle of the WNBA season allows players to participate in the Olympics as members of their national teams. There have been a total of 18 teams in WNBA history. A total of five teams have folded: the Charlotte Sting, the Cleveland Rockers, Houston Comets, the Miami Sol and the Portland Fire. Three other teams have moved, two of them twice and the other once. The Utah Starzz have moved twice, first after the 2002 season to San Antonio, where they were first known as the Silver Stars and later as the Stars, and then after the 2017 season to Las Vegas as the Aces. At the same time the Starzz moved to San Antonio, the Orlando Miracle moved to Uncasville, Connecticut, where they now play as the Connecticut Sun. The Detroit Shock moved after the 2009 season to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where they played as the Tulsa Shock, and then moved to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex after the 2015 season, now playing as the Dallas Wings. Since 1997 when the league was established there have been 11 teams that have won the WNBA title. The Houston Comets were the first team to win the championship and they won it 4 years in a row, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000. The Los Angeles Sparks have won 3 championships in their time in the league, 2001, 2002, 2016. The Tulsa Shock also won 3 championships when they were still in the league, 2003, 2006, 2008. The Seattle Storm have 4 titles to their name, 2004, 2010, 2018, 2020. The Sacramento Monarchs were a WNBA team that won a championship in 2005. The Phoenix Mercury Won the WNBA championship 3 times in 2007, 2009, 2014. The Indiana Fever have one title to their name and that came in 2012. Both Seattle & the Minnesota Lynx have the most championships of any of the teams currently active in the WNBA, with Lynx's 4 championships that came in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017. The Washington Mystics won their only title in 2019. In 2021 the Chicago Sky won the title. The Las Vegas Aces have won the most recent title in 2022. The WNBA values diversity and taking a stand. Leadership within the WNBA has continuously broken down barriers for women, racial injustice, and LGBTQ community as well as other underrepresented groups. Since the birth of the WNBA in 1996, league leadership has empowered their athletes to do what is right for the league and what is right for society. The WNBA’s stand with diversity and inclusion across the sports world has enabled a generation of women, people of color, the LGBTQ community, and many more to believe in themselves and strive to achieve greatness. The WNBA has been holding LGBTQ community celebrations since 2001, the year the Los Angeles Sparks became the first team across any professional sport to acknowledge and celebrate Pride Month, sparking a revolution in the sporting community to stand by and support the LGBTQ community. The WNBA continuously invests considerable amounts of recourses into educating youth through programs such as the Jr. NBA’s Her Time To Play program, the WNBA Cares program, as well as partner with several other community partners to deliver WNBA Pride and Take a Seat, Take a Stand initiatives.